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ALL ABOUT PETS: Readers show off their cuties PAGES 12 & 13
Pine Hill Lane residents report problems from Park 35E project BY LOGAN GION CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Park 35E comprises more than 40 acres of land south of County Road H2 and east of Centerville Road. The White Bear Township Board previously zoned the land as “light industrial,” a designation for warehousing and services that are “not likely to create offensive noise, vibration, glare, dust … or cause any other objectionable impacts on adjacent property.” Residents on Pine Hill Lane and along Centerville Road, however, say that developer North Oaks Company LLC and the property owner WBT Holdings LLC caused them numerous problems when they graded the property last summer. They say the process removed hundreds of trees and altered wetlands to flatten the site for building. “I’ve had such bad exposure to dust,” said resident Lori Winchell, “that I actually lost my voice and had to use asthma medicine, and I don’t have asthma.” Another resident, Karen Backus, claimed that she and her husband would frequently power wash walls of dirt off their siding. Yet another resident, BJ Schultz, noted that construction lasted into the evening on school nights for his daughters and woke them in the early morning.
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Dog Day is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17.
Dog Days returns to downtown White Bear Lake BY SHANNON GRANHOLM MANAGING EDITOR
Come Saturday, May 17, dogs will take over Washington Square in downtown White Bear Lake.
SEE PARK 35E, PAGE 25
“I thought it was such a neat event; what a great idea to do that here and bring all these people downtown to see all the businesses we
annual event. Organizer and dog lover Kim Schoonover, owner of Indulge Salon, Spa and Wigs, came up with the idea after visiting Dog Days on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.
It’s all a part of Dog Days, where dogs (and their humans) will stroll through downtown to explore various rescue organizations, vendors and businesses. 2025 marks the ninth
SEE DOG DAYS, PAGE 11
Vadnais Heights makes plans to install Flock Safety cameras BY ERIK SUCHY STAFF WRITER
Vadnais Heights is considering a big step forward for monitoring crime: installing Flock Safety-brand cameras around the city. The council approved a budget addendum for the 2025 Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office to purchase four cameras and place them at different points around the city. These cameras use license plate reader technology to record plate data and vehicle characteristics, both crucial information in helping investigators solve crimes. Under Flock Safety, this data is recorded by law enforcement in compliance
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people who are out on patrol that, ‘Hey, there was a stolen vehicle heading wherever.’ It’s a nice tool to have, and it gives more eyes on the street. It’s everexpanding and becoming more and more prevalent in the Twin Cities.” Vadnais Heights will lease the cameras through Flock Safety instead of buying them. In addressing concerns over residents’ personal information being recorded, Ramsey County Sheriff Commander Mike Hankee assured that the cameras would not threaten their privacy. “There is a 30-day retention cycle on that, so every
with state Data Practices Act, and can be accessed for official use as authorized by statute. Law enforcement will be able to view these cameras 24 hours a day with real-time alerts. Officers can more quickly identify stolen vehicles, recover them and arrest the offender, as well as locate a vehicle that may have been involved in a theft. Any clips during this period that record a crime will be saved by investigators and used as evidence. “The data is held for 30 days by Flock,” explained City Administrator Kevin Watson. “For anybody who’s accessing that data, it’s logged and registered that they were looking at that. Typically, it notifies
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